These two were so fun to work with, they had such great style and we were able to really showcase their personalities in their wedding weekend, which we love! They both LOVE food and wine – Dave owns a wine consulting company, and has worked in some of New York’s best foodie destinations, so we obviously had to incorporate that everywhere! The weekend started off with a super fun boat tour aboard the “Island Romance” and a welcome lobster bake for all of their guests on Peak’s Island, a tiny little island right off the coast of Portland.

On the wedding day, which was a truly beautiful day – the kind that only exists in Maine – Dave prepped with a professional shave, while the girls primped in a cute little salon in the Old Port. The ceremony and reception were held on the grounds of the Southern Maine Community College, on a spot where Linnea’s Grandfather’s house used to stand (before the college was built), overlooking the beach where her mother grew up taking swimming lessons!

After the ceremony, they had an amazing 5 course tasting meal that revolved around Maine’s finest offerings – mini lobster rolls, seared duck with blueberry sauce, mint ravioli – yum! And of course, every dish was paired with a fabulous glass of wine. The attention to detail didn’t end with the meal, though. This wedding was gorgeous. From their ceremony (which included a wine ceremony!) overlooking the Spring Point lighthouse to the reception in a glowing Sperry tent right on the coast, everything was the perfect blend of New York chic and rustic Maine goodness.

Dave and I worked with Francie to create a relaxed, intimate celebration that felt very ‘us’. We really wanted our guests to experience the natural beauty of the Maine coast, so we chose a gorgeous ocean-side site at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. My mother grew up in Maine and my grandfather’s childhood home (until it was turned into a WWII shipyard!) was literally steps away from our site, so there was lots of family significance on my side!

During our ceremony, guests had views of sailboats, scenic Casco Bay islands, abandoned Civil War forts, wildflowers, and not one but TWO lighthouses! We really wanted the focus to be on the natural coastal beauty, so we limited our ceremony decor to galvanized pails of hydrangea lining the aisle.

I took tons of photos when we initially chose our location, which really helped us choose attire for our wedding party later on – I literally cut and pasted photos of dresses onto a background showing where our ceremony would be held! That’s partly why I knew I would love the white dresses we chose for my bridesmaids – they really seemed to pop against the deep blue ocean and bright green grass! I had nine bridesmaids (with a 20-year age span), so I really liked the idea of having the girls coordinate without matching exactly. Thread’s white seersucker dresses were perfect for this – each of the girls chose her favorite style, but the resulting combination still looked very pulled together. The groomsmen’s blue and white seersucker suits were from Jos A. Bank.

Dave and I really wanted to play up the ‘dinner party’ aspect of our reception. We’re both food and wine people – in fact we met while working in the wine industry. We opted for a tasting-style menu – four mini-courses – that allowed us to pair wines with each course. We chose to emphasize fresh, local ingredients – the idea was to create a menu that would be similar to the style of food we would cook for a dinner party at home. Our caterer, Black Tie, was even able to create a version of ‘Mint Love Letters’ (a favorite dish at Babbo, where Dave previously worked as a sommelier) as one of the courses!

We decided to save the dancing portion of the evening until after dinner, and instead created a playlist of ‘songs about love’ (think more Magnetic Fields than Barry Manilow) to be played during the meal. Every bride says that her wedding flies by – but I actually think that saving the dancing for last somehow made the reception feel longer! I would describe the overall look of our reception as ‘French-country, with a modern twist’. The combination of the long, banquet-style, wooden tables and the clear Victoria Ghost chairs really formed the backbone of our vision. They created such a strong ‘look’ that we really didn’t have to add too many other decor components – and we were able to fit them into our budget by eliminating costly linens, chair cushions, and so on. I love the Ghost chairs – I splurged on a few to brighten up my otherwise Ikea-furnished flat in London during business school, and Dave and I have since moved them to New York. I really wanted to use them for our wedding, and was thrilled when Francie was able to source them for us! It was really helpful to have a strong central visual in order to explain the look we were going for during discussions with potential vendors. It was really obvious when someone “got it” – our florist, Laurie (of Minott’s Flowers in Portland), did an amazing job of creating a fresh, natural look. She even managed to incorporate our love of food and wine by planting old champagne cases with fresh herbs. They were absolutely beautiful, and a huge hit!